The Perfect Rollbar Cover

I’ve had a project in the back of my mind for a few years – doing a rollbar cover for Sharka’s Blackbird Fabworx bar. But then… life got in the way and I never managed to set aside the weekend or two to do it.

Fast forward a couple years.

State of the rollbar

I had a stick of Hard Dog’s pre-formed SFI rollbar padding on Sharka’s bar. It’s basically suicide to run a bar without this stuff, and Hard Dog’s padding fits the Blackbird shape perfectly. But I’d never covered it with anything and the padding was starting to get a bit brown on the edges. Sharka always has the hardtop on, so it’s not a huge deal but… yeah. It was getting ugly.

A new formed SFI pad came with the custom rollbar cover.

Floating happy hearts.

A wild rollbar cover appears!

Custom.

Last year when I visited Benny and Pete in California, I noticed his GORGEOUS rollbar cover. Benny was rocking a single diagonal Blackbird bar and I asked about it immediately since I knew there wasn’t a ready source for the covers. Pete explained that he’d commissioned Hard Dog to make up a cover for his Blackbird rollbar after sending in measurements.

And they did it! And it was PERFECT.

I thought back about my rollbar cover project idea and decided I couldn’t possibly ask Hard Dog to make one for Sharka. Nope. I’d just make one myself. Someday.

Then the Fedex truck dropped off a box.

Clean and shiny.

Ready for some cover.

Pete, my very dear friend, decided to take matters into his own hands and have Hard Dog make up a rollbar cover for Sharka. Just out of the blue. Just to send Sharka a very kind gift. He contacted Moti (owner of Blackbird Fabworx) and got the measurements he needed. And then Hard Dog made the magic happen.

I’m just stunned. It’s such a wonderful and thoughtful gift.

Thank you Pete.

Now for some pix.

Fresh SFI stick installed.

I hate to stand on a soap box, but… I’d likely be dead without the SFI padding that was wrapped around Sharka’s rollbar when the first chassis was destroyed back in 2008. A stick of it runs about $25 from Racerpartswholesale. Your life is worth it.

PAD YOUR ROLLBARS.

Rollbar cover installed.

Perfect fitment.

It’s just… perfect. The whole thing is held on by velcro and fitment is spot on. There’s a tiny bit of fiddling needed to get wrinkles smoothed and seams laying flat, but it’s all of 10 minutes work.

The cover is nice and thin too, just the thickness of the vinyl. So if your hardtop is a tight fit, it’s likely that this cover won’t get in the way of anything.

I love it.

Bikini top on.

Summer cruising.

Sharka, summer 2018.

By a strange coincidence, I pulled the hardtop off and put on Sharka’s bikini top just a few days prior to the rollbar cover arriving. The weather’s been punishing at 105*F highs, but I missed the bikini and thought it was about time.

I even scowled about that faded SFI padding a few days ago… such a happy coincidence.

THANK YOU SO MUCH PETER!!! Sharka and I are extremely lucky to have you and the rest of the Miata tribe in our lives.